Feigning hurt, Harry said, ‘Oh, I’m a substitute for Marcus, is that it?’
Brisa sighed. ‘No, I just feel the need and you’re safe.’
‘Now I really am hurt,’ said Harry. ‘Safe?’
Brisa kissed him chastely upon the cheek. ‘You have charms, Squire, in a clumsy, boyish way. Don’t take it too hard. You’ll grow out of it.’
She snuggled down into the crook of his arm, and he enjoyed the feeling. But he still felt stung. ‘Clumsy?’
Calis and Marcus did not return that night.
At sunrise, Nicholas had them up and moving. An hour later, Marcus came into view, waving his hand above his head. Nicholas hurried to meet him and said, ‘What did you find?’
‘Calis marks a spot about a half-mile from here. We think it’s a way up.’
Dropping his voice so that those approaching behind couldn’t overhear, Nicholas said, ‘We must try today. Many of the men aren’t going to make it as is. We can’t wait any longer.’
Marcus looked at the ragged band of seamen and nodded once.
It took them some time to reach Calis, as the sick and injured could not easily make it across the sand. Nicholas hurried across the deep sand to where the elfling waited. Calis indicated a ledge about ten feet above them. He made a stirrup with his hands, and Nicholas stepped in. With a boost, Nicholas climbed up on the rise to discover a large outcropping of rock, with a small cave leading off into the cliffs. Marcus boosted Calis up, and then Calis dropped his hand for Marcus to leap and grab. When all three were on the ledge, Nicholas said, ‘The cave?’
‘No,’ said Marcus. It’s shallow and goes nowhere. It’ll provide protection for those who stay behind.’
Nicholas said, ‘No one stays behind. Anyone we leave will die.’
Marcus’s voice grew harsh, but it was with frustration, not anger, as he said, ‘Nicholas, some of the men can barely walk with help. They’re not going to be able to climb that!’ He pointed upward and Nicholas’s eyes followed.
Near the entrance to the cave, two faces of stone met in a V. Along one face a narrow path rose, following along until it switched back. From where Nicholas stood he couldn’t see what became of the ledge after that. ‘Have you been up there?’
Calis said, ‘I have. It moves halfway up the face of the cliffs, then stops, but about six feet above the end of the ledge a stone chimney rises. From what I could see, it can be climbed to the top of the cliffs.’
‘How?’ asked Nicholas.
‘It’s the hardest part. But if two or three of us can work our way up there, bare-handed, we have enough rope to lower down a line from the cliffs to the top of the ledge and pull up those who need help.’
Then Marcus said, ‘But the seriously injured and ill won’t be able to make it – whoever’s coming up that chute will need to work hard. We can’t dead-haul ten or fifteen men more than three hundred feet up. Those makeshift ropes won’t take it.’
Nicholas felt a sense of helplessness flowing over him, and angrily shoved it aside. ‘We’ll do what we can. The first thing is to get everyone up here.’
The stones on which they stood were growing hot with the midday sun, so the Prince instructed everyone who could to shelter in the cave. He took Amos aside and said, ‘As soon as the sun is off the cliff face, I’m going up with Calis and Marcus.’
‘Why you?’ Amos demanded.
‘Because unless I’m completely off, we’re the three most fit here.’
‘But you’ve never tried anything remotely like this before?’ said Amos.
‘Look, sooner or later everyone’s going to have to try, or rot on this beach. If I’m going to fall and get splattered on the rocks, I’d just as soon do it discharging my duty as having someone try to haul me up on a rope.’
Amos swore. ‘You’re getting more like your father every day. Very well, but once that rope’s secured, I want Ghuda up there.’
‘Why?’
‘Because we certainly don’t need his sword down here, but who knows what’s up there!’ he said impatiently.
‘Very well. But you’re coming after him.’
‘After my men,’ insisted Amos.
Nicholas put his hand on Amos’s shoulder. ‘Some of them aren’t coming. You know that.’
Amos turned away, looking over the ocean. ‘I’m their captain. I must be last to come up.’
Nicholas was about to argue, but something warned him off. ‘Very well, but you are coming.’
Amos nodded and went away. Nicholas returned to the cave mouth and sat, waiting for the sun to move off the rocks.
Nakor came to sit beside Nicholas. The Prince was watching the shadow that had crept about an inch or so from the face of the rocks. ‘You go soon?’ asked the little man.
Nicholas nodded. ‘A few more minutes, to get the sun off all the rocks. They’re still pretty hot to the touch.’
‘How do you feel?’
Nicholas shrugged. ‘Hungry, tired, and not a little worried.’
‘Worried?’
Nicholas stood and motioned for Nakor to move outside with him. Making a show of looking at the angle of the sun, he lowered his voice and said, ‘There are a half-dozen men who can’t make it up those cliffs, Nakor, maybe more.’
Nakor sighed. ‘Everyone dies. We know that. Yet the death of one close to us is always troubling, even if it’s someone whom we’ve said no more than a few words to in a few minutes.’
Nicholas turned his back to the cave, looking down at the beach and the ocean beyond. An afternoon breeze had risen and blew his shoulder-length hair behind him. ‘I’ve seen a lot of death recently. I don’t know if I can get used to it.’
Nakor grinned. ‘That’s good. One can be philosophical in the ease of a comfortable room, with a glass of fine wine in the hand, a log upon the fire, but in the heat of the moment, when lives are at risk, one doesn’t think. One acts.’
Nicholas nodded. ‘I think I understand.’
Nakor put his hand upon Nicholas’s arm. ‘Do you know why some men will die today?’
‘No,’ Nicholas answered bitterly. ‘I wish I did.’
‘It is because some spirits love life while others grow fatigued.’
‘I don’t understand.’
Nakor moved his hand in an all-encompassing circle. ‘Life is stuff.’
‘Stuff?’
‘The stuff everything is made out of.’ He looked out at the ocean. ‘You see all that, water, clouds, you feel the wind. But there’s stuff you can’t see too. Stuff that fools like Anthony insist is magic. All of that, from your boots to the stars in the heavens, it’s all made of the same thing.’
‘This “stuff,” as you call it?’
Nakor grinned. ‘If I could imagine a more elegant name, I would call it something else. But whatever this basic stuff is, it is something you can’t see; it’s like glue – it holds everything together. And one of the ways it manifests itself is what we call life.’ He looked Nicholas in the eyes. ‘You have gone through much in a short time and you are not the boy who left Krondor so recently.
‘But you are not yet the man you will be. So understand this: sometimes death comes unexpectedly, and those it takes to Lims-Kragma’s halls go unwillingly. That is fate. But when the spirit has a choice, as these men here have, then you must accept that choice.’
‘I’m still not clear about your meaning,’ said Nicholas. His expression showed he was trying to understand.
Motioning with his head back toward the cave mouth, Nakor said, ‘Some of these men’s spirits are ready to die. It is their time to move on. Do you see?’
Nicholas said, ‘I think so. That’s why a man with injuries more severe will make it while another will die?’
‘Yes. You must not feel responsible for this thing. It is a choice each man makes, though he may not know he does. It is beyond the realm of princes and priests. It’s between a man’s spirit and fate.’
Nicholas said, ‘I think I understand. When
the ship went under the water the second time, I was choking on seawater. I couldn’t breathe and was being pulled farther and farther down, and I thought it was my time to die.’
‘How did you feel?’
‘Terribly afraid, but then at the last, before I was cast upward into the air, I felt a strange calmness.’
Nakor nodded. ‘It is a lesson. But it wasn’t your time. For some of these men, it is time. You must accept that.’
‘But I don’t have to like it.’
Nakor grinned. ‘That is why you may be a good ruler someday. But for the moment, you need to climb that cliff, don’t you?’
Nicholas smiled, and it was an expression of relief and fatigue. ‘Yes. I must lead now, or I never will.’
Nakor said, ‘Have you thought of the amulet?’
Nicholas nodded. ‘Pug said to give it to Anthony, and he’s to use it only against the greatest need.’ He stared into the cave, as if he could see Anthony back at the rear, tending the injured and wounded. ‘I trust he’ll know what is the greatest need. For now, I think anything we may survive without aid doesn’t meet that description.’
‘You must go.’
Nicholas looked upward and saw that the sun was now fully hidden from the face of the cliffs. He nodded and crossed to the cave mouth. ‘Marcus, Calis. It’s time.’
Calis nimbly jumped up and gathered a long coil of rope, and tied it firmly into a large loop. Then he slipped one arm and his head through the coil. Marcus and Nicholas did the same. When all three were at the top, they’d tie the three coils together and lower the rope down, providing an easier way upward. Harry came to Nicholas and said, ‘I wish you’d let me go instead.’
Nicholas grinned. ‘You?’ Putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder, he said, ‘I thank you, but I’m not the one whose hands grow clammy standing on the rampart of the castle, remember? You never did care for heights.’
‘I know, but if one of us is going to fall –’
‘No one is going to fall.’
Nicholas walked past his friend, into the cave mouth. To the sailors gathered he said, ‘We should be at the top before sundown. We’ll lower the rope and you can start climbing.’ To Amos he said, ‘You judge the order of the climb and who is to help those less able. If we can, I want every man up there by nightfall.’
Amos nodded, but they both knew it was an impossible request. One of the sailors hobbled forward, his leg swollen from a broken ankle. The man’s face was ashen with pain, but he gamely said, ‘I’ll make sure as many make the climb as can, Highness.’
Nicholas nodded and moved toward the cave. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Amos hand the man his own dagger and he quickly turned away. He knew why the man had asked for the weapon. Hunger and thirst were not clean ways to die.
Nicholas climbed up on the narrow trail and moved to the base of the chimney, where Calis and Marcus waited. Harry followed after. Calis said, ‘I will go first, since I am the most experienced. Marcus, you come next, Nicholas, watch clearly where we place our hands and feet. Something that looks solid may not be; there are cracks in the stone behind which water gathers. If it freezes, it weakens the rocks. Test each hand-and foothold before trusting it with your full weight. If you become fatigued or get into trouble, say something. We are not in a hurry.’
Nicholas nodded, relieved the elfling had taken charge. This was not a time to dwell upon rank. He turned to Harry and said, ‘When we drop the rope, call for the others to begin climbing.’ He put his hand on Harry’s shoulder and whispered. ‘And make sure Amos comes before you. If you have to hit him over the head with a rock and we have to haul him up the cliff, don’t let him stay behind with the wounded.’
Harry nodded.
Calis placed his hands on a small outcropping of stone and pulled himself upward, bracing his legs on either side of the chimney. Reaching out to the opposite side of the fissure, he found another handhold and moved upward. Marcus and Nicholas both watched closely, and when Calis was ten feet up the chimney, Marcus began his ascent.
Nicholas watched his cousin, and when he had enough height, the Prince reached up and placed his hands where the others had. He felt sudden panic, as there wasn’t much to grip. For an instant he hesitated, then he pulled himself upward, putting his feet where he had seen the others place theirs. A dull ache struck his left foot and he swore softly, ‘Not now, damn it!’
Marcus looked down. ‘What is it?’
‘Nothing,’ answered Nicholas. He turned his mind away from his balky foot and stared up, surprised at how deep the gloom in the chimney was against the bright sky. Willing himself to see Calis and Marcus, he watched how they moved. He reached across the chimney and put his hand upon the opposite face and pulled himself upward.
Like three insects climbing a wall, they inched their way up the rocks.
Time blurred. For Nicholas it became a series of pauses, watching those ahead, then moving up a little at a time. Three times Calis called down warnings of possible weak purchase along the way, and once his foot slipped, sending small rocks cascading down upon Marcus and Nicholas.
Several times Nicholas halted to catch his breath, but he found that most of the time moving was no more demanding on his arms and legs than hanging motionless. He was tired, but he simply focused his mind on the task of putting one hand higher than the other, of moving a foot, securing it, and pushing himself up a little bit higher.
Once he looked down and was surprised to discover that they had come only a third of the way up the cliff from the path. He decided to avoid that, as the disappointment that struck him was accompanied by a stab of pain in his left foot.
Despite his being in the shadows, the heat caused sweat to run down his face, blinding him momentarily when he looked up. He wiped his eyes upon his shoulder several times, and cursed the need.
Time passed as he struggled to keep up with Calis and Marcus. Each passing hour brought them closer to the top, but when he had begun to feel optimistic he heard Calis say, ‘We have a problem.’
Nicholas looked up, but couldn’t clearly see the elfling past his cousin. ‘What?’ he called.
‘The chimney widens here.’
‘What do we do?’ asked Nicholas.
‘This is tricky. When you get here, you’ll see that the left side tapers up and away. It looks like you only need to extend out a little to reach it, but it’s dangerous. Better to back down a little, swing both feet to that side, and propel yourself up with your back on the right side, feet on the left. Do you understand?’
Nicholas said, ‘I think so, I’ll watch Marcus.’
Marcus remained motionless for what seemed a long time, and Nicholas felt his arms and legs starting to knot as he held the same position without moving. He felt a stab of panic as his left hand began to slip upon the face of the rock, then he gripped harder. Breathing deeply, to become calm, he told himself, ‘Don’t let your concentration lapse.’
Time dragged on, and Nicholas felt small cramps and aches and knew that he had never been so tired before, when suddenly Macus said, ‘Calis has cleared the wide spot.’
Nicholas watched as his cousin climbed another ten feet or so, then swung his right leg and planted it firmly on the left face, his back against the right. Bracing himself with one leg, he’d lift the other, then use his hands against the rocks to raise his body to the new height. The progress was slow, but to Nicholas it didn’t look too difficult. A small voice warned, Don’t take anything for granted.
When he reached the point where Marcus had turned, he suddenly felt a hot stab in his left foot. ‘Damn,’ he said softly as he attempted to put his weight upon it. His left leg trembled and he had to shut his eyes to concentrate on keeping pressure on the foot. His every instinct was to pull back, but he willed himself to continue. Then his right foot was firm against the opposite wall and he withdrew pressure from his left. Taking a deep breath, he glanced up.
Marcus was now shifting back to his original position, when
suddenly his left foot slipped. He cried out as he scrambled to find a grip, and suddenly he was hanging by his hands from a tiny ridge of stone, his feet scrambling for purchase on the smooth rock face.
Nicholas felt a stab of panic through his stomach and shouted, ‘Hang on!’ He forced his aching legs and knotted back to obey as he muscled his way up the chimney.
Marcus shouted, ‘Get back! If … I fall … I’ll hit you.’ From the gasps between each word, Nicholas could tell that he was struggling heroically just to keep his handholds.
Nicholas ignored the warning and forced himself to a reckless pace. He blinked against dirt and gravel that rained down upon him as he moved closer to Marcus. He could see nothing of Calis.
Reaching a point below Marcus’s dangling feet, he shouted. ‘Hold still a moment!’
Marcus hung there silently, while Nicholas shimmied up below him. Gently he put one hand upon Marcus’s boot and said, ‘Don’t kick me, or we’ll both fall.’ He resisted the almost instinctive urge to grip the boot before his face.
Wedging himself as firmly into place as he could, Nicholas put his hand under Marcus’s right foot. ‘Push down slowly!’ he shouted.
Marcus put his weight upon his cousin’s hand. Nicholas grimaced at the effort, feeling his shoulders burn from the effort as the skin beneath his tunic was scraped by the stone. His legs trembled and his left foot burned as if on fire, but he held firm as Marcus pushed down.
Nicholas found himself taking shallow, rapid breaths and forced himself to breathe deeply. Tears ran down his face from the pain in his back and legs, but he held himself as taut as a bowstring, as rigid as an iron rod, for he knew that to relent in his concentration for an instant would cost both Marcus and himself their lives.
Then suddenly the weight was gone and Marcus was again moving upward. Nicholas wished to the gods he could relax, but he knew he was in the most perilous position he had been so far in the climb. He needed to lower himself down slightly, then start upward again.
With burning shoulders and legs, Nicholas felt himself slide down a few inches, and suddenly he knew he was wedged in. ‘Ah … Calis!’ he called.
Prince of the Blood, the King's Buccaneer Page 73
